ToC - Stage 7

well, I'm a little late here, but I guess better late than never.

Once again a break gave us a new virtual yellow in Slipstream-Chipotle's Danny Pate who helped lead a break to a 3 minute lead, but in the end they were swallowed up as teams looked to set up their sprinters for a possible stage win. In the end however, it was Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez who snuck past all the heavy hitters to get the only win by a non-Pro Tour rider. in the end it was Levi who lead from the prologue all the way through to the end in an amazing display of the power of Discovery.

The bad news of the day was that George Hincapie broke a bone in his arm the previous day and will be out 6-8 weeks.

Here's the final top ten and the jersey winners:
Final overall
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, 24:57:24
2. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 0:21
3. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel, at0:54
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, at 1:06
5. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), at CSC, 1:16
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA), at CSC, 1:24
7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, at 1:32
8. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, at 1:38
9. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 1:41
10. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Health Net-Maxxis, at 1:57

Jerseys
Mountains: Christophe Laurent (F), Crédit Agricole
Points: Juan José Haedo (Arg), Team CSC
Young rider: Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
Team: CSC

ToC - Stage 6

Wow what a great day of racing. I knew that it was possible this stage could have an effect on the overall GC, but I really wasn't expecting the level of intensity that was today's stage.

I'm a Quickstep fan persoanlly, but CSC really won me over today and I will definitely be watching them throughout the season. Considering that this race doesn't mean anything inthe grand scheme of the year, they raced as if it was one of the Grand Tours. Attack after attack and then Stuart O'Grady, what else can you say. Being the virtual yellow over the majority of the stage just killing it the entire time. Props to the rest of that break as well.

I kind of wish they could have stayed out there, but Disco did what Disco does and just put the pedal to the meddle and got some late help from Health Net that was just enough to catch the break only 3km from the finish. Setting up the awesome sprint finish and I thought Bettini might pull off his second win of the tour, but mad props to JJ Haedo for grabbing the win.

Overall
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel
2. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 0:21
3. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel, at 0:54
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, at 1:06
5. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, at 1:16
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA), CSC, at 1:24
7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, at 1:32
8. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, at 1:38
9. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 1:41
10. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Health Net-Maxxis, at 1:57

ToC - Time Trial

dang Jason Mccartney has put in an amazing ride and is currently the virtual yellow with only a few riders left on the course.

Jens Voigt is also putting in a great ride as well as Levi who had the fastest split so far, but can he keep it up.

We should know soon.

Update:
Unofficially Levi has grabbed the fastest time by several seconds over Jens Voigt with Jason McCartney in third. That is also the unofficial GC top three. It looks like CSC and Disco are hogging the top ten and I will post the final standings as they are available

Update 2 (8:45pm):
Well here is the GC top ten

Overall
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, 18:21:52
2. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 0:21
3. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel, at 0:54
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, at 1:06
5. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, at 1:20
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA), CSC, at 1:24
7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, at 1:34
8. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators, at 1:38
9. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, at 1:41
10. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Health Net -Maxxis, at 1:57

Since the systems were down at work I got to watch teh flash video feed via the tourtracker on the official TOur sight which was awesome. For someone without cable it was nice to finally get to watch some cycling other than 1 leg of an ironman. I have to say that Leviu looked amamzing out there. He seemed very relaxed and just powerful and it showed in his time by winning the stage by 18 seconds. Incredible

ToC Stage 4

Looks like today's Time Trial will definitely decide the winner as Levi held onto the yellow jersey again. Interestingly it seemed that Discovery tried to force the hands of the other teams by sitting on the front of the peleton, but not pushing too hard and allowing a break to sit out there for most of the day. Now granted yesterdays break was much less dangerous than the previous days with Jens Voigt, but they seemed content to wait until someone else wanted to join them to really start pushing it, which Rabobank and Liquigas finally did in the last 30 miles.

And talk about a close finish...wow, Bettini by a nose.

Wonder if Rory Sutherland will be able to stay on the podium? It would be nice to see a domestic team up there but I don't have high hopes.

Overall
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, 17:52:12
2. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 0:03
3. Rory Sutherland (Aus), Health Net-Maxxis, at 0:15
4. Christopher Horner (USA), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:16
5. Ardila Cano Mauricio Alberto (Col), Rabobank, at 0:17
6. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, at 0:18
7. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Health Net-Maxxis, at 0:19
8. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, s.t.
9. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb), Navigators Insurance, at 0:20
10. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, s.t.

ToC stage 3

Another exciting day in the ToC, with most of the filed forcing Discovery to do majority of the work trying to reel in a potentially dangerous break with Jens Voigt amongst others involved. Looks like Disco did a good job of stringing out the filed and Levi was powerful on the days final climb to go on a break himself with Voigt. In the end Voigt won the stage, and though Levi is still in yellow, with all his time bonuses brought him close enough to be a real threat for the overall.

Looks like the time trial Friday may decide it in the end, but todays stage sounds like it might have some challenging conditions so it's possible we could see some surprises.

General classification (top 10)
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, 12:46:25
2. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, 0:03
3. Rory Sutherland (Aus), Health Net-Maxxis, 0:15
4. Christopher Horner (USA), Predictor-Lotto, 0:16
5. Ardila Cano Mauricio Alberto (Col), Rabobank, 0:17
6. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, 0:18
7. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN), Health Net-Maxxis, 0:19
8. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, s.t.
9. Sergey Lagutin (UZB), Navigators Insurance, 0:20
10. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, s.t.

Tour of California

Day three of the ToC has come and gone with little change in the GC riders. Even with the circuit at the end again, no excitement like yesterday.

I don't think the decision to neutralize the circuit was a good one. Either make the decision immediately or follow the rules and only neutralize a crash in the final 3km. Hopefully next year they won't do so many circuits (especially ones with traffic blocks) and hopefully the organziers will run the race as professionaly as they want it to be treated.

Top ten riders from Velonews
General classification
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, 9:02:47
2. Jason Donald (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:01
3. Benjamin (USA), Priority Health-Bissell, 0:05
4. Rory Sutherland (Aus), Health Net-Maxxis
5. Hilton Clarke (Aus), Navigators Insurance
6. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, 0:06
7. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel
8. Adam Hansen (Aus), T-Mobile
9. Ardila Cano Mauricio Alberto (Col), Rabobank, 0:07
10. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, 0:08